The Luzerne County Transportation Authority voted Tuesday night to place two executives charged criminally with conspiring to inflate ridership numbers on unpaid administrative leave, although they will be able to use accrued time off while they await trial.

The move came during an emergency meeting Chairman Sal Licata called after Executive Director Stanley J. Strelish, 60, and Operations Manager Robb Alan Henderson, 58, were charged last week with conspiring to inflate senior citizen ridership numbers in the “ghost rider” scandal. The inflated numbers resulted in the authority collecting $3.16 million in grant funding for which it was not entitled, according to the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation, which in January demanded a refund for that money.

The authority’s personnel committee put Strelish and Henderson on administrative leave after a grand jury convened in Harrisburg handed the charges up last week.

Both men, who are free on $25,000 bail, have declined to comment.

Following a roughly one hour and 45 minute executive session during the meeting Tuesday evening, the board voted to “ratify” the committee’s decision to place the men on leave and to continue the leave “to exhaust accrued benefit time” the defendants have. Authority solicitor Joseph M. Blazosek said the administrative leave will continue unpaid until the board makes a change to that status.

It was not immediately clear how much sick time, vacation and personal days Strelish and Henderson have on the books.

During public comment, Jackson Township resident Ed Chesnovitch questioned whether the personnel committee had the authority to take action without a vote of the whole board.

“I think we resolved that issue just by the action that was taken,” Blazosek said, referencing the ratification vote.

In the absence of an executive director, the board also voted to authorize additional positions to “act on behalf of the authority” by signing documents that are used to report information to the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation, such as invoices, progress reports, grant applications and other reports.

The board chose not to immediately appoint an interim executive director in Strelish’s absence because of “time constraints,” Licata said.

“We know we have a management staff here that has been doing the job for the last 10 days or so,” Licata said. “They’ve been doing the job with extreme ability. We have confidence in them to continue doing that until the board is able to get together and go through this process.”

Across the Susquehanna River at the county courthouse, Luzerne County Council’s Authorities, Boards and Commissions Committee also took up the issue Tuesday night.

Council Vice Chairman Edd Brominski has called for the resignation of the entire LCTA board, saying council should be able to reconstitute the board in the wake of the scandal. He is seeking a resolution that would request the resignations, although council does not have the authority to compel anyone to leave.

But his proposal met a tepid response from his colleagues at the meeting. Councilman Harry Haas said it might make sense to seek a new chairman of the board but it “would be in error” to seek mass resignations.

“It might look good at first. You might convince some people that this council is doing something,” Haas said. “But I think it ultimately sends the wrong message. We’re already having struggles getting people to serve on these authorities, boards and commissions, and we want to encourage people to step up.”

Councilwoman Linda McCloskey Houck commended Brominski, who brought the issue to the public eye during a council meeting in July 2012, for raising awareness of the situation. She appeared reluctant to seek mass resignations, noting it is employees of the authority who run daily operations, not members of the board, have been charged.

“Charges have been filed, but it is America and until you’re found guilty, they’re charges,” McCloskey Houck said. “I would just like us all to be aware of that before we start saying that people on the board ignored something that may or may not have been going on.”

Still, the committee voted unanimously to move discussion of Brominski’s proposal forward to the full council next week.

570-821-2058, @cvjimhalpin

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